Two of a Kind
by HenriettaDarlington
Summary: A teenage superhero and a retired villain talk about the world. Dedicated to my Thalia.


Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of the Powerpuff Girls franchise

**Trigger Warning: Violence, foul language, underage relationships**

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><p>Two of a Kind<p>

McCracken's was the kind of dive bar where everything smells like cheap cigarettes and day-old beer. Not that the people who went there were much better themselves. Nobody in the building had less than three serious offenses on their criminal records. Gang tattoos were basically part of the cover charge. This was the bar where all the villains of Townsville came to find henchmen.

The girl who was standing in the doorway wasn't a gang member. She also didn't have any prison tattoos, but she was the reason the entire room went quiet.

Buttercup Utonium was the most dangerous person in any room she entered. At the age of fifteen she could lift buildings, fly faster than the speed of sound, and was completely invulnerable. She had been in more fights this month than most people had in their entire lives, with lives on the line every single time.

She strolled easily through the bar, at home surrounded by staring criminals, all of them giving her room as she passed. Which, in her opinion, was the way it should be.

"So I hear you just got a good shipment of X." She grinned as she stepped up to the bar and stared the tender down. It was her 'I can break you like a twig so tell me the truth before I decide to' grin, and she knew it was intimidating; she practiced it in the mirror to get it perfect.

He jerked back, looking nervous, "I don't know what you're talking about."

She leaned on the bar and it made a creaking noise that sounded near breaking, "So I'm going to get to break you in half. This is going to be fun!" She reached out and grabbed him by the shirt collar, lifting him up with one hand and pulling him to her face.

He spilled the beans after that. Apparently Chemical X had got up pretty high in price and now was being watered down with some cheap knockoff. Unfortunately said knockoff was causing serious side effects, ranging from heartburn to bloody, gushing death. Worse still, it was being sold under the claim that it was pure, so a lot of people didn't realize what it was going to do before it was too late.

Everyone in the bar breathed a sigh of relief when Buttercup left.

Outside McCracken's, Buttercup was preparing to take off. Normally she would make more of a show with it, make some noise, maybe start fast enough to shatter some windows, but tonight was a school night and Blossom had been riding her about giving the Powerpuff Girls a bad reputation.

Stuck up bitch.

She was just about to take off when a call stopped her.

"Well, well, well - wasn't expecting to see a Powerpuff here. It's been a long time, Buttercup."

She turned so fast her neck cracked. "Ace?!"

There he was, her childhood crush, the leader of the Gangrene Gang, one of the few people in town who could claim to have beaten the girls for any length of time, Ace. He was still taller than her, with skin still the same dark green as the rest of his friends. He even had that same stupid haircut and self assured look. It was all Buttercup could do not to break his face in with a single punch. She could level a city block, but she knew if she did that to his head she'd be arrested so she held back. Barely. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Flowers, calm down. I'm just in town for business; didn't know that I'd be running into you. Can a guy not say hi to an old friend who he runs into?"

"No, he can't." She glared and stood up as straight, trying to seem tall. "You're under arrest, Ace."

When she moved to grab him, he caught her arms. "For what, kid? I'm not breaking any law. I just want to talk."

She stared him in the eyes and tried not to think about the fact that just thinking about him used to be enough to make her blush. Buttercup jerked back, then took a deep breath, making sure to stay away from him, "You want to talk."

"I want to talk." Ace stepped away from her, sticking his hand in his pocket. She tensed, expecting a gun, but all he took out was a cigarette. "Got a light?"

"You want to talk, you got two minutes. I have places to be and it's a school night." She growled.

He shrugged, "Just asking. So school, huh? How's that going?"

"School's fine." It wasn't, but she felt ridiculous and uncomfortable enough just standing there; she didn't need to give him any information he could use against her. Here she was talking about school with a super villain like he was some old friend. Which she guessed he was - she had known him since she was five.

"That's good, education's important, kid." He grinned, "Don't want to end up a criminal like me."

"Yeah, well, um, how are you doing?" This was stupid. She didn't really know what to say to him, standing under the streetlights at eleven at night outside a shitty bar. She was better at witty fighting banter then she used to be, but actually talking in a one on one personal way was Bubbles's thing.

"Doing great, actually. I'm out on parole, just coming back to Townsville to tie up some loose ends." He was still holding that unlit cigarette, talking to her like they were just the best friends in the world.

She stared and the tip of the cigarette and it lit up, her laser vision glowing red in the night. He flinched, not expecting it, and that sent a thrill of pleasure up her spine. Not so tough now. "Try not to get into any trouble while you're here."

He slouched and looked at the lit cigarette thoughtfully. Then he looked at her and smiled at her, almost fondly. "I'll be sure to be good, Flowers."

"Good."

He took a drag from it then turned, walking away, "Well, it was fun catching up with you. Goodnight."

She almost went after him, upset he was just leaving her, but caught herself. There was no reason. He wasn't doing anything, and she had more important stuff to do. When she flew away, the trail of green across the sky faded quickly.

It was three days until Buttercup next saw Ace.

She spent those three days incredibly pissed off. First, she had to deal with the fact that they had almost no decent leads on who was selling fake Chemical X. Second, Blossom chewed her out when she ended up coming in at two a.m., even though she was upset when she found out about the Chemical X, too. Blossom even agreed that they needed to look into it, but said school came first. Which led to the third reason Buttercup was upset:school.

Despite what she had said to Ace, Buttercup hated school. School was bullshit. She could learn anything she needed from the Professor. He was smarter than any teacher she had and he actually understood that she had patrols after school; she didn't have time for homework. The worst part was the students, though. She couldn't stand how utterly stupid they were about how things actually were in the world. They had never seen anyone die. They have never faced down a mutated monkey trying to commit genocide against every single human being on earth. Buttercup had personally fought Him. They didn't know anything and they still bitched about stupid teenage drama, acting like they knew about the awful things in the world when they had it so easy.

So Buttercup hated school. She spent seven hours every day stuck in a building with a bunch of dumbasses who didn't know when to shut up. It was to the point where patrolling around beating people up looking for leads and beating people to pulps was the highlight of her day. Not that it wasn't already.

That didn't mean that it was much better out of school. When she got out she spent all of her free time patrolling. Townsville was a cesspool of freaky criminal activity that the police force wasn't equipped to handle. The time she spent saving cops from villains was ridiculous and just put more people in danger because she couldn't fight and save at the same time.

The biggest problem was, though, was Blossom. Buttercup and her red haired sister had been butting heads since the day that the professor created them. Blossom was the perpetual golden child, never getting a bad grade or arguing with kids at school. While Buttercup wasn't a complete idiot when it came to grades, a week where she only got sent to the principal twice was a good one. Blossom, of course, took it upon herself to try and 'help' her sister, mostly by scolding her for not being nice and gentle and kind to every single person she met. Buttercup hated Blossom trying to control her and Blossom hated how she didn't act like a 'proper' super hero.

The Utonium house regularly had to have police intervention for the girls' fights.

She ran into Ace again while she was with Bubbles interrogating some small time dealer. She had the dealer's back to the wall about six feet off the ground while Bubbles was floating beside her, smiling nicely and asking questions in that sugary sweet tone she was so good at.

"Now we really want answers about this so you can understand why Buttercup's upset. So how about you tell us who gave you this to sell, okay?"

To make her blonde sisters point, Buttercup ground the guy into the wall.

Right when she was sure he was going to crack an annoyingly familiar voice called up to her, "Hey, Flowers!"

"Damn it, Ace!" She twisted around to look at him, absolutely jamming the dealer into the wall.

And there he was, standing below her and grinning at her, oh so friendly. "And how are you doing today?"

Beside her, Bubbles's mouth dropped. "I-Is that Ace? As in Gangrene Gang Ace?"

"Unfortunately." Buttercup snarled out. "Hold him." She tossed the drug dealer into Bubbles arms and she caught him with a squeak. "I'll be right back."

He waved casually when she landed in front him. It was only then she noticed that one of the other Gangrene boys, Snake, was cowering behind him. Good, he should be afraid of her. "Ugh, boss?"

Ace shushed him, "Not now, Snake."

"What do you want, Ace?" Buttercup asked very slowly, trying to stay calm.

"I was just passing though and saw you flying there. Wanted to talk to you." He grinned again and, ugh, she hated him so much.

Her lips tightened to a small line and she hissed, "Well we're kind of busy here."

He held his hands up in a placating manner, "If you're too busy that's okay, I just thought you might be interested in the fact that I heard who's selling that fake X." He turned away casually. "But if you're too busy I'll just go. Come on, Snake."

Before he could take a step, she had him by the hand, twisting him around and jerking him back towards her. Bubbles was on the other side of them immediately, cutting off their route of escape while setting the drug dealer down. "Who's selling it?"

He looked at where she was holding him then at Snake, who looked like he was caught between running and trying to fight both girls with Ace. Ace however smiled, then reached out and used his free hand to cover her hand holding his, "The Rowdyruff Boys, Brick specifically."

"The Rowdyruff Boys." Those douche bags. Of course it was the Rowdyruff Boys. They were always trying to screw around with Buttercup and her sisters, committing petty crime just for laughs in between their actual super villain plots. They always caused tons of collateral damage whenever they fought with her sisters or each other. They ran all kinds of stupid evil plans for thrill and jokes and the publicity instead of normal villain goals. If anyone was using their evil contacts to sell cheap drugs, it would be the Rowdyruff Boys

"Yeah, them." Ace patted her hand, "Those little shits were annoying when I was here and from what it sounds like they've gotten worse."

"They have." Oh they have.

Bubbles looked at her, "We should go tell Blossom." She turned to the dealer and let him go, "You need to go home, we don't have time to arrest you, but you still need to think about what you've been doing out here. What you're selling could've killed someone!"

The dealer ran, because when a Powerpuff let you go you didn't stick around.

Bubbles watched him run, "We better hurry, Buttercup. If the Rowdyruff Boys are up to trouble we don't have time to lose." She turned to Ace and Snake, smiling nervously, "Um, thank you for the tip, we'll be sure to follow up on it."

Ace was still looking at Buttercup when he told Bubbles, "You're welcome."

Snake did face Bubbles, albeit still shooting Buttercup nervous looks, "You're welcome."

"Let's go, Buttercup." Bubbles shot off into the air, a stream of bright blue light.

But Buttercup stayed standing there, hands clasped with Ace for a moment.

He broke the silence and their hand hold, "I'll see you around, kid."

"You two keep out of trouble." She glared him then Snake down for a moment before she flew away faster than a gunshot.

She was home before she realized that Ace had handed her a note while they were holding hands.

The note had said the following:

Normally she would tell her sisters, or at least the professor, but when she got home Blossom was furious about the Rowdyruff boys.

"How could they do this! I know they're awful, but this could kill people! Don't they have any kind of morals!" She was pacing the girls' shared room, long red hair streaming behind her like a cape, "What's wrong with them!"

Bubbles was sitting nervously on her own blue bed - they did at least have their own beds now."Well you know how they are, Blossom."

"They're assholes, Blossom." Buttercup rolled her eyes, "You know that."

"This isn't just them being asses, Buttercup!" Blossom was yelling at Buttercup now. Just who did she think she was? "They're a danger to society!"

So Buttercup didn't tell her sister about Ace's note. Why bring Blossom's questions down on her? That's what would happen if she told them after all. Blossom would yell and talk like Buttercup was the bad guy, just like she always did.

Buttercup ended up skipping school, standing outside a tiny coffee shop at ten in the morning. She wasn't in Powerpuff uniform, no green and black dress, just some cheap black jeans and a green t-shirt. She almost didn't want to go in. It's not like she was afraid or anything, but she just wasn't sure what was going on and didn't want to go into a villain fight blind. Despite her pre-fight nerves she stepped through the door and scanned the room, mentally reminding herself she could easily take the entire Gangrene Gang if it came to it. They were mostly just normal humans after all.

She spotted Ace easily, not that a green guy was exactly difficult to spot. He was sitting at a little circular table drinking a coffee and eating a cheap coffee shop pastry. Looking at him was like looking at the world ten years ago. He hadn't changed a bit, down to those goofy sunglasses. Why was he even wearing them indoors?

He looked up and caught her staring and she was horrified when she blushed. She was Buttercup of the Powerpuff Girls, she did not blush, especially at villains. He waved her over and she sat down across the table from him.

"What do you want?"

He smirked, "Same thing I've wanted to do this entire time, talk."

This wasn't getting her anywhere, "What do you want to talk about, then?"

He sighed, then sipped his drink, "You should really try the coffee, my treat."

She closed her eyes and tried to think calm thoughts, then opened her eyes slowly, "Look, Ace, I don't want coffee. All I want to do is why you keep fucking following me."

"I keep telling you I want to talk to you."

Oh for the love of. . . "Ace, if you don't tell me what you're aiming at doing then you're going to be eating those glasses instead of that stupid cinnamon bun."

"Okay, okay, no need to get violent, kid." He looked thoughtful, but overly so, like he was trying to make a point, "You solve all your conflicts like that?"

"I'm a superhero. It's my job." What was he getting at?  
>"How's that going for you? Better than school?"<br>She glared, "It's going great. So is school."

He smiled and she felt like he knew something he shouldn't, "Now here's the thing, kid. I don't think school's going great for you. In fact I think you hate it."

"And why do you think that?" He may be right, but what gives him the right to say that?

"Well for starters you're visiting a guy who pisses you off at ten in the morning instead of going to whatever class fifteen-year-old usually go to right now."

"I'm interrogating a villain." Yeah, okay, so he did have a point there.

"Also I've been checking up on you since I got out of jail and you've gotten into a lot of fights at school-"

He didn't get the chance to finish what he was saying before she stood up, slamming her hands on the table, "You have been stalking me! I knew it!"

Ace didn't flinch, even though he was in a position that would make other seasoned thugs pee their pants. He'd fought her enough times that he wasn't really afraid. He stood up slowly and held his hands in a 'calm down' gesture. "Buttercup."

"What?" She snarled. She was about to slam her chair into his face, no matter what the consequences.

"Calm down. I'm not trying to fight you. I haven't been stalking you. This isn't some sort of evil plan."

Which she knew was bullshit. She'd been a super hero long enough to know how these kinds of things work. She did take a deep breath, though, because civilians were watching and she didn't want them to get hurt. "Then what are you trying to do?"

"I've got a business proposition for you."

That was possibly the least likely thing he could say. Or at least right up there with 'Buttercup, I love you. Let's have weird green tinted babies together.' "A business proposition?"

He nodded and looked at her over his glasses, "Glad you're listening."

"What kind of business proposition?" She didn't even know why she asked; she would never make a deal with a villain.

"I'm moving to Citysville after this week. I'm going to start up a legit bodyguard business, using the people I knew from the crime circuit here to get the best guards possible."

"And how am I a part of that?" He couldn't possibly mean what she thought he means.

He took a sip of coffee and smiled at her, "You hate how things are going right now. You can come to Citysville with me and protect people as a bodyguard. People would pay through the roof for a Powerpuff to guard them."

Oh, she should have known, "Ace."

His smile was so genuine she almost bought it, "Buttercup."

"I'm not some stupid five-year-old who has a crush on you anymore." She put as much venom in her voice as possible, but mostly she was just hurt. God only knew why she was hurt, he was a super villain, it was his job to try and make her miserable. "I'm not about to sell out my family to get you to like me. It's pretty fucked up that you'd pull that again."  
>He seemed actually surprised, "Wait, Buttercup-"<p>

"No, you wait. I was a dumb little girl who had a crush on you and you were a creepy grown man who toyed with a little girl's feelings." She was surprised she actually managed to say that without shouting.

"Creepy teenager."

She blinked, thrown off her rant. "What?"

Ace sighed and he sounded suddenly very tired, sounded like someone who had been sent to the hospital countless times by superheroes, "I was a creepy teenager when that happened. I was seventeen then, I'm 27 now." He stood up and leaned on the table, "I'm a grown man. I don't want to screw around with a fifteen-year-old's head. This is an actual offer, Buttercup."

She narrowed her eyes, "An actual offer."

"Yes. I'm trying to make things right by giving you a way out of a shitty life that makes you angry all the time." He stared at her.

"I still can't do it." And she couldn't. She couldn't leave her sisters to fend for themselves.

Ace shrugged and stood up straight, "Okay."

She raised an eyebrow, "Okay? You stalk me for a week and then agree to leave me alone with an 'Okay'?"

"Look, Flowers," He picked up his coffee and wrapped up his cinnamon bun, shoving it in a pocket, "I know when a girl's saying no."

"So that's it then?" She crossed her arms, suspicious.

"That's it." He nodded and started for the door, she followed because she really had no reason to stay here. When they got outside he grabbed her shoulder before she could fly away.

"What?" This wasn't an angry 'What?' for once, simply a confused one.

He looked at her again, very seriously over his glasses, "If you ever get tired of all this the offer stands. Come with me and I promise you'll be happier."

She flew away without replying. He watched her go until the green stripe faded from the sky.

The hours leading up until the Rowdyruff fight were stressful.

The moment Buttercup got back to school Blossom cornered her in the hallway and whispered furiously.

"Where were you last class?" Blossom was in her face, practically shaking from anger, "Do you have any idea about how many absences you have Buttercup? We have to miss enough when we have monster fights we can't afford to just skip school whenever we want!"

Buttercup pulled back, grimacing at her sister, "Look - I had stuff to do."

"Well, Buttercup, we have stuff to do this afternoon." Okay, Blossom was really angry, "In case you forgot we're fight the Rowdyruff Boys tonight, we have to be at the top of our game. What if they had seen you flying around and captured you. Do you even realize the tactical disadvantage that would have put us in?"

Tactical disadvantage. Of course that's what Blossom would be worried about.

The bell rang before the argument could continue.

"Well don't worry, boss, I'll be there." Buttercup pushed past her, "Better hurry, don't want to be late for class."

It only escalated for the rest of the day, Buttercup and Blossom snarling at each other whenever they passed with Bubbles awkwardly trying to keep them both calm. By the time final bell rung and the three of them changed into their outfits the tension could be cut with a knife. They flew to the Rowdyruff Boys' headquarters in silence.

They stood outside the warehouse in the normal order, Buttercup was to the left, Blossom was in the middle, and Bubbles was to the right. It was silent except for the talking they could hear from inside all three of the boys were in there, but that sounded like all. No henchmen to get in the way. That was good - they wouldn't have to hold back, but also bad, because the boys wouldn't be holding back either.

Blossom looked at Buttercup and nodded, then looked at Bubbles and nodded. That was all the go ahead they need before the crashed through the door in unison.

"Freeze, you're under arrest!" That was Blossom doing what she did best, giving orders.

The look on the faces of the Rowdyruff Boys was almost funny. Brick was sitting in a recliner in one side of the room, watching T.V. and counting a wad of cash when he looked up, looking personally offended that they interrupted. Boomer was laying on a couch that was pushed up against a wall typing on a computer, probably updating his blog that Buttercup knew Bubbles followed religiously. He just looked shocked, absolutely shocked that someone had just broken their door down. Butch was punching a punching bag and he was the only one not to miss a beat before throwing himself into the fight.

He hit Buttercup with enough force to cause earthquakes, right in the stomach and it knocked the breath from her lungs. She had enough sense not to try to stand her ground and moved with the punch, then slammed her knee into his chin. Above her she could hear as Brick and Blossom crashed through the ceiling and somewhere to her right Boomer and Bubbles slammed into each other. She didn't give Butch the chance to recover before she cracked her fist against his skull with a punch that had the energy of a speeding train behind it.

That got him off of her long enough for her to scan the room for any potential weapons, but there wasn't much, just some furniture and stacks on stacks of boxes. She was distracted when he uppercutted her, sending her crashing into the roof. He laughed below her while she took the chance to aim and fly directly into him, sending him into the floor hard enough to make a crater. They wrestled in the crater, pulling hair and clothes, kicking and punching until she heard Bubbles scream.

Buttercup shoved Butch down as hard as she could then shot up and almost couldn't make out her sister. Sometime during the time Bubbles and Boomer were fighting they had knocked into the crates along the walls, spilling tons of fake chemical X. They were both coated in the inky stuff, a ball of slick black and blue. The reason Bubbles had screamed, however, was because Boomer was holding her face down in the stuff. He was trying to drown her.

"Bubbles!" Buttercup was across the room faster than the brain could comprehend and slammed into Boomer before he can react. She didn't give him time to react before she was punching him as hard as she could, not even bothering with any sort of fancy fighting. She just kept punching him, every hit slamming his skull to the ground.

Bubbles sat up, gagging and coughing when Butch came barreling towards Buttercup. The blonde didn't get a chance to warn her sister, but she didn't need to. Buttercup snarled and lunged at him, knocking him out of the air and head butting him in the stomach. She slugged him, again, and sending them both hurtling into the ground.

She kept wailing on him even after he was down and didn't stop swinging until she was pulled off by her sisters. She almost hit Blossom before she got pinned.

"Buttercup, calm down!" It was Bubbles this time, holding her tightly.

Buttercup pulled back, baring her teeth, "What?"

"The fight's over, Buttercup!"

When she looked around it was clear the fight was over. Brick, who looked the normal amount of beaten up, was supporting Boomer, helping his younger brother staunch the flow of blood from the blue boy's mouth. Blossom was actually supporting Butch, who looked like he might drop dead any second.

"Oh," She breathed out slowly, "It is over."

The cops showed up in record time when they found out there was a heavily injured superhuman on the scene. The boys were taken to the hospital, from which they'd later be taken to jail. The girls were allowed to go home.

"What was that, Buttercup?" Blossom was giving her the most upset, reprimanding look Buttercup has ever seen, which was saying something. The professor had been shocked, telling her to go to her room he needed to time think about what just happened.

Bubbles looked at her with big horror-filled eyes, "What was that?"

Buttercup stood up straight and looked at her fiercely, "He was trying to drown you, Bubbles. You could have died."

Blossom stepped up to her, glaring, "Butch could have died tonight. You almost killed him, Buttercup."

"I did what I had to do to protect Bubbles!" She had, why couldn't they see that?

"He stopped fighting back," Blossom said, sounding disgusted, "You should have stopped when he did."

Buttercup shook her head, "If he wasn't willing to get beaten up he shouldn't have fought us."

"Oh my god, Buttercup," Blossom was yelling, now, practically screaming, "Do you have any clue how awful you sound? What are you going to do next time? Splatter Mojo's brains all over the pavement because he 'shouldn't have tried to fight us in the first place'?"

"Maybe I will!" Because next time maybe she would and he'd deserve it for all the awful things he had done.

"What's wrong with you?" Blossom sounded sick.

Buttercup didn't bother to reply before she flew out the window, painting a trail of green across the night sky.

"Ace."

The man in question almost fell over from where he was standing on his balcony, "Buttercup?"

It was Buttercup and she looked like hell. Her dress was ripped in several places, tan skin showing through, a sight that would normally be pleasant turned horrifying due to the liberal smearing of fake chemical X down her legs. Her short black hair was wild and her face was bruised. "Hey."

"Holy shit, kid!" He took a step back from where she landed in front of him.

"That offer still good?" She cocked her head to the side, unnervingly calm.

He nodded, staring at her, "Yeah, um, it's still good. What happened to you?"

She looked at him and shrugged, "I reconsidered. Like you asked me to."

Ace nodded then shook his head, "Well obviously, I meant why do you look like you died."

She looked down at herself and frowned slightly, "Reasons."

He sighed, "Look just come inside, okay?" He reached out and touched her shoulder, expecting her to back away, but she just stood there. Ace took the opportunity to remove his jacket and wrap it around her, "You're going to freeze your ass off in that dress."

She rolled her eyes, but kept the jacket on, "I'm invulnerable, I'd be fine."

"Fine let's go in before I freeze my ass off." He set his hand back on her shoulder and led her in, "Now tell me what made you, um, reconsider."

"It's a long story."

"Start from the beginning, Flowers. We got time."

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><p>Author's Note: This will hopefully be the first of many stories. Please read and review to tell me what else you'd like to see.<p> 


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